TU alumnus Hendrickx wins Huygens prize

TU alumnus Hendrickx wins Huygens prize

^{Nico Willem Hendrickx, who received his PhD from TU Delft on 12 July 2021, received the Christiaan Huygens science prize from the hands of jury chairman Prof Dr Maria Antonietta Loi at the Oude Kerk in Voorburg yesterday. (Photo: Christiaan Huygens Prize Foundation)}

“Nico was the first to construct a planar germanium quantum dot and the first to operate a qubit based on a single electron hole and demonstrate universal quantum logic with holes. His thesis has become a standard in the semiconductor quantum technology community,” the jury president said.

Following his PhD with Prof Lieven Vandersypen (Faculty of Applied Sciences), Hendrickx is working as a postdoc at IBM Research in Zurich. Research there focuses on improving quantum coherence and developing hybrid superconductor-semiconductor systems. As a researcher in the quantum technology team there, he is leading the development of germanium quantum technology.

The prize, which consists of €10,000, a certificate and a bronze statue of Christiaan Huygens, has been awarded annually since 1998 to a researcher who has made an important and socially relevant contribution to science in a recently defended dissertation.

The other nominees were Dr Elham Mohamed Tawfik Fadaly (TU/e) and Dr Loreta Angela Muscarella (RU Groningen).